J. Koike et S. Kimura, MECHANISM OF NITRIDATION OF SILICON POWDER IN A FLUIDIZED-BED REACTOR, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 79(2), 1996, pp. 365-370
Direct nitridation of 400 mu m average-sized silicon granules, compose
d of 2 mu m average-sized particles, was carried out in a fluidized-be
d reactor, Nitridation progress was studied by transmission electron m
icroscopy (TEM). TEM photomicrographs suggested that the formation of
surface nitride layers on individual silicon particles and the subsequ
ent spallation of these layers were the dominant process of the direct
nitridation of silicon, The spallation was modeled based on a simple
crack theory, and the critical thickness of nitride layers leading to
spallation was estimated to be 57 nm, This agreed reasonably well with
the experimentally observed values of 20-100 nm.